Intra-Abdominal Bleeding during Pregnancy, Preterm Delivery, and Placental Polyp in a Long-Term Survivor of Neuroblastoma: A Case Report

Background. There are few reports of pregnancies in long-term survivors of pelvic neuroblastoma. Case. A 30-year-old Japanese woman with a history of pelvic neuroblastoma in her childhood, which was treated with surgical resection, chemotherapy, and radiation. Her pregnancy continued with conservative management, but she delivered a 510 g female infant at 23 weeks of gestation due to sudden onset of labor pain. She also had a placental polyp and developed massive postpartum bleeding. Conclusion. Cancer treatment, especially radiation therapy, in childhood may cause adverse outcomes during pregnancy in long-term survivors of neuroblastoma

Directional cell expansion requires NIMA-related kinase 6 (NEK6)-mediated cortical microtubule destabilization;

　Plant cortical microtubules align perpendicular to the growth axis to determine the direction of cell growth. However, it remains unclear how plant cells form well-organized cortical microtubule arrays in the absence of a centrosome. In this study, we investigated the functions of Arabidopsis NIMA-related kinase 6 (NEK6), which regulates microtubule organization during anisotropic cell expansion. Quantitative analysis of hypocotyl cell growth in the nek6-1 mutant demonstrated that NEK6 suppresses ectopic outgrowth and promotes cell elongation in different regions of the hypocotyl. Loss of NEK6 function led to excessive microtubule waving and distortion, implying that NEK6 suppresses the aberrant cortical microtubules. Live cell imaging showed that NEK6 localizes to the microtubule lattice and to the shrinking plus and minus ends of microtubules. In agreement with this observation, the induced overexpression of NEK6 reduced and disorganized cortical microtubules and suppressed cell elongation. Furthermore, we identified five phosphorylation sites in β-tubulin that serve as substrates for NEK6 in vitro. Alanine substitution of the phosphorylation site Thr166 promoted incorporation of mutant β-tubulin into microtubules. Taken together, these results suggest that NEK6 promotes directional cell growth through phosphorylation of β-tubulin and the resulting destabilization of cortical microtubules

Mantle dynamics inferred from the crystallographic preferred orientation of bridgmanite

　Seismic shear wave anisotropy is observed in Earth's uppermost lower mantle around several subducted slabs. The anisotropy caused by the deformation-induced crystallographic preferred orientation (CPO) of bridgmanite (perovskite-structured (Mg,Fe)SiO3) is the most plausible explanation for these seismic observations. However, the rheological properties of bridgmanite are largely unknown. Uniaxial deformation experiments have been carried out to determine the deformation texture of bridgmanite, but the dominant slip system (the slip direction and plane) has not been determined. Here we report the CPO pattern and dominant slip system of bridgmanite under conditions that correspond to the uppermost lower mantle (25 gigapascals and 1,873 kelvin) obtained through simple shear deformation experiments using the Kawai-type deformation-DIA apparatus. The fabrics obtained are characterized by [100] perpendicular to the shear plane and [001] parallel to the shear direction, implying that the dominant slip system of bridgmanite is [001](100). The observed seismic shear- wave anisotropies near several subducted slabs (Tonga-Kermadec, Kurile, Peru and Java) can be explained in terms of the CPO of bridgmanite as induced by mantle flow parallel to the direction of subduction

Scalar Glueball Mass Reduction at Finite Temperature in SU(3) Anisotropic Lattice QCD

We report the first study of the glueball properties at finite temperatures below T_c using SU(3) anisotropic lattice QCD with beta=6.25, the renormalized anisotropy xi \equiv a_s/a_t = 4 and 20^3 \times N_t (N_t=35,36,37,38,40,43,45,50,72) at the quenched level. From the temporal correlation analysis with the smearing method, about 20 % mass reduction is observed for the lowest scalar glueball as m_G(T)=1250 \pm 50MeV for 0.8 T_c < T < T_c in comparison with m_G \simeq 1500 \sim 1700MeV at T \simeq 0.Comment: This is the second revised version using more gauge configurations. 5 pages, Latex2e, 5 figure

Two-Baryon Potentials and H-Dibaryon from 3-flavor Lattice QCD Simulations

Baryon-baryon potentials are obtained from 3-flavor QCD simulations with the lattice volume L ~ 4 fm, the lattice spacing a ~ 0.12 fm, and the pseudo-scalar-meson mass M_ps =469 - 1171 MeV. The NN scattering phase shift and the mass of H-dibaryon in the flavor SU(3) limit are extracted from the resultant potentials by solving the Schrodinger equation. The NN phase shift in the SU(3) limit is shown to have qualitatively similar behavior as the experimental data. A bound H-dibaryon in the SU(3) limit is found to exist in the flavor-singlet J^P=0^+ channel with the binding energy of about 26 MeV for the lightest quark mass M_ps = 469 MeV. Effect of flavor SU(3) symmetry breaking on the H-dibaryon is estimated by solving the coupled-channel Schrodinger equation for Lambda Lambda - N Xi - Sigma Sigma with the physical baryon masses and the potential matrix obtained in the SU(3) limit: a resonant H-dibaryon is found between Lambda Lambda and N Xi thresholds in this treatment.Comment: 22 pages, 11 figures, Version accepted to publish on Nucl. Phys.

Outcomes after stereotactic body radiotherapy for lung tumors, with emphasis on comparison of primary lung cancer and metastatic lung tumors

BACKGROUND: The goal of this study was to determine the prognostic factors associated with an improved overall outcome after stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) for primary lung cancer and metastatic lung tumors. METHODS: A total of 229 lung tumors in 201 patients were included in the study. SBRT of 45 Gy in 3 fractions, 48 Gy in 4 fractions, 60 Gy in 8 fractions or 60 Gy in 15 fractions was typically used to treat 172 primary lungs cancer in 164 patients and 57 metastatic lung tumors in 37 patients between January 2001 and December 2011. Prognostic factors for local control (LC) and overall survival (OS) were analyzed using a Cox proportional hazards model. RESULTS: The median biologically effective dose was 105.6 Gy based on alpha/beta = 10 (BED10). The median follow-up period was 41.9 months. The 3-year LC and OS rates were 72.5% and 60.9%, and the 5-year LC and OS rates were 67.8% and 38.1%, respectively. Radiation pneumonitis of grades 2, 3 and 5 occurred in 22 petients, 6 patients and 1 patient, respectively. Multivariate analyses revealed that tumor origin (primary lung cancer or metastatic lung tumor, p < 0.001), tumor diameter (p = 0.005), BED10 (p = 0.029) and date of treatment (p = 0.011) were significant independent predictors for LC and that gender (p = 0.012), tumor origin (p = 0.001) and tumor diameter (p < 0.001) were significant independent predictors for OS. CONCLUSIONS: SBRT resulted in good LC and tolerable treatment-related toxicities. Tumor origin and tumor diameter are significant independent predictors for both overall survival and local control